Polestar primed for growth with more models and larger fleet team

Numbers are never far from the conversation when talking with Polestar head of sales Rob Morris about the manufacturer’s achievements and ambitions.

Since it launched into the UK in late 2020, the premium brand has registered around 40,000 cars, with around 80% of these going into the fleet sector.

The vast majority of these have been the 2 – Polestar’s launch model - which remained the manufacturer’s only car until the 3 and 4 were launched towards the end of last year. These will be joined by the 5 – a performance four-door GT - later in the year.

The opportunities offered by the new models has also led to a 40% increase in headcount in its fleet team, including appointing Sarah Trottle as its head of fleet.

Polestar also picked up one trophy at this year’s Fleet News Awards, with the 4 being named best large car (sponsored by Ogilvie Fleet). It was also highly-commended in the zero-emission manufacturer of the year (sponsored by Fleet Procure) category.

“Polestar 2 has been a phenomenal product for the brand and has given us a really strong foothold in the market,” says Morris.

“With 4 and 3 joining towards the end of last year and with 5 coming later on in the year, it’s a really exciting place to be - we’ve got a real opportunity to start to open that out to customers.”

The latest addition to Polestar’s model offering is the 3 Long Range Single Motor, which was launched in June and offers a WLTP range of 438 miles, and a P11D price from £69,845.

“We’ve already had more than 100 orders for the LRSM, which demonstrates there is real demand for that product,” adds Morris.

Review and reorganisation

After joining the manufacturer in November, Morris carried out a review of the business which led to the increase in the size of the fleet team.

“Historically, we had a number of field team members who would engage with fleet managers, they’d engage with leasing companies, and engage with brokers,” he says.

“The skillsets required in each of those areas are very bespoke and very specific, so we took the opportunity to invest in the fleet team.”

As well as the appointment of Trottle, who had previously worked at Volvo for more than 20 years, four regionally-based fleet sales manager roles were created.

“They’re responsible for building relationships with fleet managers and our retailer partners at a regional level, and effectively ensuring that we are positioned correctly on customers’ rate books so that drivers can choose the best Polestar they can,” adds Morris.

Polestar also created a dedicated national contract hire and leasing manager role, as well as a tactical sales manager role which will deal directly with brokers.

“We recognise the brokers are an integral part of the sales for the brand, and this will help us ensure we can support that industry with access to stock, for example.”

A further development at the beginning of February saw the brand launch its Polestar Business Centre. This consists of a team of four people who are dedicated to targeting SME customers – both those who have engaged with Polestar in the past, as well as those new to the brand.

“Their role, in essence, will be to provide the demonstration service, the quotation service, and they then hand off to our retailer partners to ensure we can support those customers in the locality,” says Morris.

“We are exceptionally well positioned in terms of the traditional company car driver, salary sacrifice schemes etc, but our SME business has scope for growth, hence why we’ve got that investment within our business centres.”

Polestar has also launched a leasing company webinar to keep funders up to date with information about the vehicles and brand.

“I think it’s really critical that we, as a brand, start to create some open communication and dialogue to help customers make to make those informed decisions, because there’s a lot of data out there, particularly when it comes to EVs,” says Morris.

“We’ve invested in the leasing portal operations to make that information easier to access for our leasing partners a well.”

Improved dealership network

Polestar will also improve the experience of fleet customers through its plan to almost double the number of physical sites – called ‘Spaces’ – it has from nine to 17.

Currently, it operates nine Spaces in the UK which have been in locations such as shopping centres and were set up to support its direct sales models – customers were able to look at the cars and arrange test drives, but all requests and orders were arranged directly with Polestar UK.

The brand is now moving a ‘non-genuine agency’ sales model, where its UK retail partners will be able to sell actively from each Space.

The Spaces will also operate like traditional car dealership, with the a.. as well as arranging test drives and aftersales functions such as servicing and maintenance.

“We want them to go out and speak to customers in their locality and target them,” says Morris.

“Our retailer partners will, of course, run the demonstrator service from the spaces, but we will also run something called ‘at your location’ as well.

“So a customer can book online with that retailer partner, and the retailer partner will take the car to the customer.

“Of course, we will facilitate demonstrators through our corporate team directly, but the aim of this initiative is to make it as easy as possible for a customer.”

Customers will still be able to configure and order their Polestar online.

When an order is made centrally to Polestar, it will be assigned to whichever retailer is closest to the customer and they will then manage the onward communications with the leasing company and end-user.

Enhanced pre-owned car proposition

Morris says the establishment of this new network will also improve Polestar’s pre-owned car proposition as well, as the retailers will also sell used vehicles.

“We’ve got around 40,000 Polestars on the road with many coming back into the marketplace, so our pre-owned offering is something we are very actively managing,” adds Morris.

Polestar has also introduced auctions through its retail partners. “We recognise that if a consumer or an SME wants to buy a pre-owned vehicle, actually the best place to buy that from is Polestar directly. Again, it gives tham the opportunity to engage.”

“We launched the retailer auctions in January, and what we’ve experienced over the past six months is that we were able to demonstrate to the leasing companies, who we are engaging with to sell their cars via our auction, that the residual value achieved through out auctions is circa 10% higher than going to the open market.

“So, again, it’s a real win for the leasing companies in terms of making sure that happens.”

All vehicles offered through Polestar’s pre-owned scheme undergo a 112-point check, which includes looking at the battery state of health.

“Each vehicle will be issued with a certificate confirming this. It gives the customer confidence to buy the pre-owned models.”

Morris says a key aim of the changes is to make the brand easier to deal with, which in turn will help it boost volume.

“There’s still a lot of work to do and we recognise that,” he adds. “There is a long way to go with the brand, but we’re really excited by the future and where we’re heading.”

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